Greatest Legacy of the Magus Universe

Chapter 1237: Yen-Lu

The mystical lands of Yen-Lu, a vast continent located in the eastern hemisphere of Tron, were known for their diverse landscapes and ancient culture.

Its northern regions were dominated by cold steppes, high plateaus, and mountain ranges rich in minerals. The central regions featured fertile river valleys and sprawling farmlands that sustained large populations. Whereas the south was dense with forests, humid marshlands, and trade-heavy coastal cities.

This continent was home to powerful dynasties, isolated monasteries, and sprawling city-states steeped in tradition. Ancestral worship, martial art disciplines, and magic combined with physical combat were deeply rooted in its culture.

Its people valued balance, honor, and mastery, whether in warfare, scholarship, or art.

Ruins of forgotten empires and ancient temples lay scattered across the continent’s wilderness, believed to be remnants of an age when mortals and spirits coexisted peacefully and more openly.

Trade routes connected Yen-Lu to Europa by land, and to Ulier and Nahua by sea, bringing not just wealth, but also intrigue.

To the people of other continents, Yen-Lu has always been a land shrouded in mysteries. Its distant shores to the east lie beyond unpredictable seas and hidden trade routes, where directions failed and storms appeared without warning.

Stories spoke of golden cities hidden in the mists, mountains that breathed fire, and sages who commanded the elements themselves.

Some claimed that the land was protected by ancient spirits that turned away outsiders. Others say it existed half in the material world and half in the spirit world.

Merchants spoke of rare silks, strange metals, and magical herbs with impossible properties. For most people across Tron, Yen-Lu remained less a place and more a legend.

It was a land filled with countless legends. Every province had its own myths, stories of fantastical beasts, immortal warriors, and cursed temples.

But among them, none was more famous than the tale of the Kitsune of Mount Hoshigane, the highest peak in Yen-Lu!

According to legend, the Kitsune was an ancient beast who has lived atop Hoshigane since the dawn of the continent.

Some say it guarded the mountain’s heart, a source of immense mana. While other believed it weaved illusions to test those who climbed its slopes, rewarding the worthy and destroying the arrogant.

Magi, warriors, and even scholars have all attempted the ascent over the centuries. None have returned, and their disappearance only strengthened the legend.

To the people of Yen-Lu, the Kitsune of Mount Hoshigane was both protector and omen.

The fact that none had ever returned from the mountain’s peak gave rise to another strange yet intriguing legend.

It spoke of a man who would one day descend Mount Hoshigane.

No one would see him climb, and no one would know his name. One day, he would simply appear out of nowhere, silent and shrouded in mystery.

People would call him... the Ghost.

Some say that the Kitsune would grant him power, while others claim he would act as the beast’s messenger.

But one thing was certain.

His arrival would mark the beginning of strange happenings across the lands.

***

Mount Hoshigane towered above all other peaks in Yen-Lu. Its slopes were wrapped in perpetual fog and freezing winds.

The climb was treacherous, marked by jagged cliffs, frozen waterfalls, and the pathways that constantly shifted almost as if the mountain itself resisted intruders.

Strange lights flickered in the mist at night, and ominous howls carried past the wind.

The summit of Mount Hoshigane was occupied by a vast crater several hundred meters wide. The ground there was cracked and lined by faint blue veins of condensed mana that pulsed like a living heart.

At the center of the crater stood a dilapidated, five-storied pagoda, its uppermost roof half-collapsed, and its stone walls covered in runes worn by centuries of storms. Despite its ruin, the air around it reverberated with dense mana, so thick it distorted sight and sound.

Resting near the temple lay a massive fox with two tails, its fur pale as moonlight.

This was the Kitsune of Mount Hoshigane.

It rested peacefully before the pagoda. With every inhale, it absorbed the abundant mana in the surroundings, and with every exhale, a faint ice storm swept through the crater. It was a creature born of ice and snow, of speed and power.

Its presence alone was enough to make the air heavy and oppressive.

There was no doubt about it...

The Kitsune was a mighty beast at the Mana Core Rank.

The two-tailed fox rested leisurely as it had for ages. There was a time when the mountain’s peak was occupied by another powerful beast. The kitsune had defeated it, absorbed its core, and taken over the peak.

Ever since then, it remained by the pagoda, absorbing the rich mana permeating the air and growing stronger with each passing day.

No beast dared to trespass into its domain, for it was the mightiest.

No Magus dared to scale the mountain, for they knew only the cold embrace of death awaited them.

The Kitstune was the king of the mountain.

But on this day, something was about to change.

For the first time, in a very long time, the crater atop Mount Hoshigane would receive a stranger from a far away land.

The strange thing was, this stranger did not climb the mountain like the countless others who had tried before him and failed.

Instead, he simply appeared out of nowehere... like a ghost.

The Kitsune sensed a shift in the air. Its eyelids lifted slowly, revealing a pair of cold blue eyes that flashed with surprise.

It gazed directly at the pagoda before it that seemed to have gone through a subtle, inexplicable change.

The dense mana in the air swirled and danced, reacting to the abrupt change.

It was subtle—very subtle. But the change was undoubtedly real. The Kitsune, a Mana Core-level beast, could sense it. A peculiar gleam flashed in its blue eyes as its gaze seemingly pierced through the pagoda.

The underground level of the pagoda consisted of a vast chamber marked with mysterious runes. The center of this chamber was occupied by a giant portal that glowed with a resplendant blue light.

The surface of the portal rippled for a few moments before a figure leapt out of it.

Cloaked in a dark hood and wielding a black staff in hand, Adam had finally set foot in the mystical lands of Yen-Lu!